This week we were graced here in The Netherlands with a Thursday holiday. Not a holiday when you have garden to catch up on still from three weeks of vacation and a Hubby that works on the holiday!
At least the weather felt a bit more like holiday weather with sun beating down on my face and neck as I tackled the weeds.
I finally finished this morning and now can spend the weekend relaxing.😂🤣 Anyone of you who has ever had a garden is now laughing at that last statement, very well, I will try to do less this weekend in the garden.
Here are a few photos and videos of how it looks right now. Enjoy!
From the back of my garden towards the front.One of two Aalsmeer climbing beans. I got these last year from my volunteer job at the Historic Garden, Aalsmeer. The other one doesn’t look great as the slugs have been busy eating it!Best of my broccoli plants. Again slugs have been eating everything…From my strawberry plants to the front of my garden.Curb appeal? More curb appeal.🌱My irises in full bloom.😊
When on vacation we like to relax and unwind and during those moments of reflection we can “see” things we otherwise would not notice. “Do” things we don’t normally do. Wonder about the sights in the areas we travel.
Both the Hubby and I spent our careers busy with work and now it is nice to actually relax and enjoy the moments and all the things at make us go Hummm… this vacation to the United States from The Netherlands was filled with such moments.
Like yesterday as we were enjoying a meal at a restaurant in Moose Lake, MN and sat watching a guy clean the parking lot, by hand, one five gallon bucket at a time.
A record snowfall in Northern Minnesota has left parking lots with piles of gravel after the snow melted.Hummm… suddenly the “hand work” turn to “dust blowing work”. Hummm…his vehicle didn’t have a MN front plate. Later I saw he was from South Carolina😳!
We did wonder if he was financing this work by the coins he might have found while cleaning up. We actually found that looking at those gravel piles issued us some coin rewards during our trip. A small but entertaining vacation activity.
Then we have the entertainment of what we find at parking lots here in the US. Hummm…
Wow! A heart! Hummm…Nope, just a discarded shoe.
Then we seemed to have a doggie vacation.
Hummm… this dog looks very tired…JD is my son’s dog, four full days of activity, this puppy was worn out.Hummm… onemore neighborhood dog that stopped to see me.
While visiting my son in St Louis, MO I had a visit from Finn. Finn is a international famous dog blogger and his “Human Mom, Ann” lives in the neighborhood. Ann even wrote a blog about meeting me for a walk on one of the days I was visiting. You can read about her experience.
I have followed Ann and Finn’s blog for years and was inspired to visit the animal shelter where she volunteered on one of my visits to the St. Louis area. I had no idea where Ann lived in St Louis until just recently when my son and daughter in law purchased their first actual house. When I emailed her a picture of the house she said she lived in the neighborhood.
Hummm… I wondered, is that by European or American distance standards? I never asked. When she stopped by while I was there and she showed me where she lived, it was very close! I thought that the universe was joking! We couldn’t even plan a house purchase in her neighborhood and here she lives just down the street. Hummm… a wonderful karma experience for both bloggers and the new neighbors who now have a trusted resource close by. Thanks Ann!!
Hummm… then there was PeppaThis pig travelled from MN to St Louis…And now has a place on my office door…
The artist… Hummm… Hanging Horn Resort’s youngest manager…
Tutu and artist/manager with supervisor in the background.
I spent a wonderful afternoon with the youngest resort manager I have ever known learning about how we “are not to talk to the customers, what we needed to clean up, and items that needed to be added to the supervisor’s To Do List.” In her spare time she is an artist. If this is the future generation I don’t think any of us have to worry.
Hummm…looks like the Hubby has lost weight on this vacation!
Maybe it is because we visited my son and daughter in law. We spent time fixing a “free” grill, a bad gate, and trenching the lawn to solve some water issues. Hummm… team building event? Possible.
Team building.
Vacation is also a time of appreciating what you have at home. So when we returned today I was greeted with a garden of beautiful tulips.
My straw bale garden looking great after three weeks.Our back garden with long grass and tulips.The tulips and iris in my front garden.
Wishing each of you to “see” the Hummm… in your lives and enjoy each day as if it were vacation. Carpe diem!
Thank You, my dearest blog followers!!!! It worked! Mother Nature heard me and each of you and granted me here in The Netherlands some wonderful sunshine on this first Sunday of April.
To all my Minnesota readers who just received more snow and to any of my readers that were in the destructive path of the most recent tornados, I will keep asking Mother Nature to stop this extreme crazy!
Until that happens maybe a few pictures of our garden will help ease the pain for your bad weather.
When I wrote my blog on Friday it was buckets rain falling from the sky! I went to the garden anyway to lift the black clouds of my soul. As I entered the garden I could hear laughter in the rain! There was an entire level 6 (9-12 year olds) planting this garden. It lifted the black clouds as the rain continued to fall. “Thanks Mother Nature!”Alfalfa with a garlic that are doing just fine in the rain and cold.Can anyone ID this plant? New sprout coming up in a fellow community gardeners plot.Even with the sun out today the wind was cold and biting off the North Sea. Tonight they are calling for a freeze. This cotton cloth cover will hopefully protect my young carrot seeds that are peeking through the soil of the straw bale.NOT WEEDS! This is rye grain that I planted last fall. You can tell that the plants closer to the bales are getting more heat and protection. I will most likely get a staggered harvest. That is perfect for my needs.Bird control in my oat field.These young plants all have glass covers for tonights freeze, the homemade wind screen needed to be on the other side of the bale today. “🙄🙄 Oh well, that is gardening”
What is growing or not growing where you live? Lets us know in our comment section.
I had to check my calendar today to make sure there wasn’t a full moon as some strange things have surrounded me the last few days.
I mentioned in my last post I saw a gal with devil horns on and satin cape drapedon a bench.
Today, it must be because it is St Patrick’s Day and the universe always wants those of us with some Irish blood running through our bodies to have fun. This was what made me laugh today.
Check out the boat name. Hummm… wonder what services they provide?
Irish are all about what is green and little sprouts are green.
Hummm… little green sprouts on these rose bushes.
Hummm… me and my shadow…
Fertilizing the roses at my volunteer job at the Historic Garden Aalsmeer.
The Cedar Journal 